


Just a Low Level Demon

by Impala_Chick



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Demon Ryan Bergara, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Paranormal, Pining Shane Madej, Scared Shane Madej, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:22:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25396846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impala_Chick/pseuds/Impala_Chick
Summary: Shane never gets freaked out while filming on location. This time is going to be the exception.
Relationships: Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Comments: 10
Kudos: 167
Collections: Multifandom Horror Exchange (2020)





	Just a Low Level Demon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reeby10](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/gifts).



> I loved so many of your prompts, but I couldn't get the image of Ryan as a demon out of my head! I hope you enjoy.

Shane pulls the metal door shut as he walks out of the room, leaving Ryan to his solo investigation. Mark is pointing a camera at him, but Shane knows that the pressure is off for the moment. He is waiting for Ryan to scream, or start babbling incoherent nonsense. At which point Shane will look into the lens and react in some sort of deadpan fashion. The solo investigations are, generally speaking, absolute gold. 

Shane shuffles down the dark hallway and shoves his hands into his pockets. He generally enjoys this part of their investigations the most. The silence allows him a moment to catch his breath, take a little break from the chaos that is Ryan Bergara, and really soak in the atmosphere of the place they are visiting without having to rabble on.

Sure, insane asylums are sort of obvious locations for them to visit. But this place has long, dark corridors littered with debris and cobwebs, and winding metal staircases that sort of make it look like a mansion rather than a hospital. Some doors are open and some doors are closed, which only increases the liminal feeling of the space. Shane can occasionally feel a breeze rush through the hallway when he walks past an open room. And there is a ton of old medical equipment haphazardly taking up space in the building. If Shane suspends his disbelief long enough, he can almost make himself feel creeped out.

The only light in the hallway comes from Mark’s camera, once Shane clicks his flashlight off. He wanders to the end of the hallway before he turns back around, just so he doesn’t get out of earshot of Ryan. He considers sitting down on the ground to wait, but he doesn’t want to accidentally sit on some sharp metal object or some big ass spider or something. As Shane gets closer to the door that Ryan is locked behind, the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Ryan isn’t talking. In fact, there is absolutely no sound coming from the room.

“Ryan?” Shane ventures.

There’s no answer for at least 10 seconds. Shane is a heartbeat away from banging on the door when Ryan answers.

“Do not come in here.” His voice sounds like ice.

“What the fuck, dude?” Shane blurts out, sounding more worried than he intends to. 

“Shut up, Shane.” Normally, Shane wouldn’t think anything of Ryan saying that to him. It’s par for the course banter. But Ryan sounds dead serious this time.  
Shane’s skin feels all prickly as an overwhelming sense of _wrongness_ floods him. There’s something off about the way Ryan is talking. His voice is deeper, and he’s speaking slowly and deliberately; completely unlike how Ryan normally sounds on location. 

“Tell me what’s going on or I’m coming in there.”

Ryan doesn’t answer.

“Fuck,” Shane curses under his breath. He glances over at Mark, who just shrugs a shoulder without verbalizing a response.

Then, a deep rumbling sound makes the floor underneath Shane’s feet shake. It’s guttural, like the growl of a huge dog. Shane’s pretty confident that Ryan would not have been able to produce a sound like that.

“I’m done fucking around, dude,” Shane says. He tries the doorknob, twisting it one way and then the other. When that fails to produce any results, he pushes against the door with his shoulder. It barely budges. 

“Stop,” Ryan yells, although Shane barely recognizes his voice. That one word echoes down the hallway and sends a shiver down Shane’s spine. 

“Seriously?” Mark says, the camera lowering a fraction so that he can look at Shane. “This isn’t a bit?”

Shane vehemently shakes his head. “I’m legitimately freaked here.” He looks down at his hands and realizes they’re shaking. He’s never been this scared on a shoot before. Ever.

His heart is beating wildly out of control, and he takes a deep breath to try and calm himself. He is clinging to the hope that Ryan is fucking with him, but the only way to know is to get in that room. Shane backs up a bit, mentally preparing himself to run straight against the door and kick it open. Before Shane can start his rescue mission, there’s an eerie scraping sound as if large nails are dragging across the cement floor.

Ryan yells again, a primal scream that seems to shake the very foundation of the building. The force of it knocks Shane back a bit, although he rights himself before he can hit the ground.

“Oh, fuck this,” Shane says. He runs towards the door, pushing his shoulder forward in the best approximation he can make of a battering ram. He squeezes his eyes shut just as he’s about to hit the door. 

Nothing solid stops him. 

He opens his eyes and keeps on stumbling forward a few steps, bewildered. He scans the room frantically for Ryan, but the first thing he notices is the thick black ooze covering most of the dusty floor. The whole room reeks of sulphur, which doesn’t make any sense.

Shane finally makes eye contact with Ryan, who is standing on the side of the black splatter. Although, Shane can’t be sure if it’s Ryan at all. It’s shaped like Ryan, and it’s got Ryan’s face. But it’s eyes are glowing red, and there are two small horns sticking out the top of his head.

“Shane, you’re going to have to let me explain,” the thing says, raising its hands in a placating gesture. It sounds an awful lot like Ryan.

Then there’s the thud of a very expensive camera dropping onto the ground somewhere behind Shane. “What the fuck? Who the fuck are you?” Mark asks, his voice quavering. 

“It’s me, I swear.” The thing sounds totally normal now. But its eyes are still glowing that ominous red, and Shane is reminded of mothman for a second.

“What happened?” Shane finally says. He doesn’t know what other options he has at this point, considering he’s got absolutely zero fighting skills and if this thing took Ryan, _possessed_ Ryan, he doesn’t have any idea how to fix that. Shane notices that his hands are still shaking, so he grabs his left wrist with his right hand and tries exhaling through his mouth to calm himself down. 

“There was a real threat, and I had to, uh, handle it. So, now you know my secret. I’m batman,” he deadpans. His eyes stop glowing red, and he smiles, and he looks like Ryan again. Except, the horns are definitely still there.

“Jesus Christ. Are you trying to tell me you’re… you’re… what exactly?” Shane scrambles to find the words as he crosses his arms over himself.

“He’s a demon, dude,” Mark helpfully supplies, his voice full of wonder.

“What he said,” the Ryan-shaped person says with a nod and a small smile. After such a human-like gesture, Shane is sort of inclined to believe it is _actually_ Ryan. After all, it probably could have killed them already if it wanted to.

“But, Father Thomas. And the holy water. And the… near constant terror.” Shane is rambling now, desperately groping for a way to rationalize what is in front of him. Ryan is the one constantly bringing up demons and hell and needing to bring _protection_ along with them on location. This whole time he’s actually been the thing he feared most?

“And what the fuck was that?” Shane points at the black stain on the floor.

Ryan raises both his eyebrows and shakes his head in a very Ryan-like gesture. “A nasty son of a bitch you definitely did not need to meet.”

Shane snorts despite himself. “Right.” 

He wants to believe the person in front of him is Ryan, so he goes over the facts. The growling coming from the room was not human. The black substance on the floor is not blood. The man before him had red glowing eyes that looked completely real just a moment ago. And the horns are still there, and certainly don’t look like a special effect. 

Nope, none of that makes sense. It’s all too much to take in, really. So no one should blame Shane for turning on his heel and promptly exiting the room.

He can hear Ryan and Mark calling after him, but he keeps on walking. Down the long, dark hallway, down the creaky metal staircase three flights, and out the side door. He keeps on walking until he reaches the curb in front of the hospital and stands under a street light.

He reaches into the front pocket of his chinos, glad he brought along a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He rarely smokes at home, but sometimes the mood strikes him while they are on location. When dealing with a nervous Ryan, he can get a little anxious too.

This time, though, Shane is the one feeling like he might just vibrate right out of his skin. He supposes he had that coming, after so many times seeing Ryan nearly break down. Although now he wonders if any of Ryan's previous emotion outbursts were even real. 

He concentrates on pulling a cigarette from the pack and holding it between his lips. It takes him a couple tries to flick the lighter on, but he manages to light the tip and tuck the lighter back into his pocket.

He takes a deep drag, and exhales the smoke. The tendrils drift off into the dark, and Shane closes his eyes for a moment, willing his hands to stop shaking. He feels like he should be scared, terrified even, because a bunch of spooky shit must be real. But what he’s actually freaked out about is Ryan’s identity. Shane figured that of everyone in his life, he knew Ryan best. Shane liked being around him so much that he swore to himself that he would never say anything that might compromise their relationship. He’d grown used to having Ryan as a constant in a life, something steady and solid and reassuring. How could he have missed the fact that Ryan Steven Bergara is a totally real _demon_? 

He wonders what it says about their relationship that Ryan never told him. He wonders what it says about _him_ that he still wants Ryan. Seeing his glowing red eyes probably should have knocked those feelings right out of Shane’s heart.

He hears someone walk up behind him a few minutes later, but he doesn’t bother turning around. He recognizes the sound of those footsteps after long hours working in the same office space. He’s feeling worn out and exhausted, so he keeps puffing on his cigarette and silently hopes that Ryan hasn’t come to chop off his head or something.

“Hey,” Ryan says, mock casual. 

Shane just shakes his head and doesn’t bother turning around. He knows that if he gets a good look at Ryan’s apologetic face, he’ll crack like an egg and totally forgive him. But this isn’t really something Shane should be forgiving him for. The rational thing to do would be for Shane to run away as fast as he can, and avoid any kind of confrontation with a _demon_.

“Seriously, dude. I’m still me. I mean, I’m not even immortal. I happened to have been born in hell, that's all. I'm just a low level demon,” Ryan says as he steps in front of Shane. 

Ryan is worrying his bottom lip and studying Shane's face. The horns are gone and he’s got his hands shoved into the front pockets of his jeans. He looks so… normal. Shane exhales smoke and props his right elbow on his left forearm. At least his hands have stopped shaking.

“All those times before, when you said you were so afraid, what was that about?” Shane has to ask, even though his brain is still telling him not to engage. 

Ryan scuffs his ghoul hunting boots on the ground. His shoulders are hunched up, and he actually looks pretty vulnerable with his sad eyes and Shane’s shadow falling across his face. 

“I was nothing but genuine about that. I mean, all those times I could really see what was there. _Who_ was there. Low level demon here, remember? I don't have a whole lot of power. I got lucky today, because the demon that appeared was a totally brainless abomination. I was able to banish it on my own.” 

Never in a million years did Shane expect to hear those particular sentences come out of Ryan’s mouth. Instead of replying, Shane pointedly inhales smoke from his cigarette to buy some time. He catches Ryan tracking the movement of the cigarette between his lips, and he stutters through his exhale.

Ryan squares his shoulders and makes eye contact with Shane. “Just yell at me, man. I know you want to.”

Shane huffs. 

“Fuck you, okay. When have I ever yelled about anything? I’m just creeped out. I mean, I was attracted to you and now I feel like I’ve been hoodwinked…” Shane trails off once he realizes what he just admitted to. He opens and closes his mouth, shakes his head, and then takes another quick drag from the cigarette. It’s practically a stub between his pointer finger and middle finger now but he stubbornly holds onto it. 

“Wait, was? As in, you’re _not_ attracted to me now?” Ryan raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms, but his eyes look amused.

“I really wasn’t supposed to say that. Let’s just chalk it up to my frayed nerves and call it a night.” Shane waves the cigarette butt in the air and watches a smirk curl the corner of Ryan’s lips. All things considered, admitting to feelings can’t be worse than admitting to _being a demon_.

"Sure, okay.” Ryan definitely sounds like he’s teasing. Shane isn’t sure if that makes this situation better or worse.

Shane flicks the butt onto the ground and grinds it with the toe of his boot. “You know, I always thought being a demon would mean having cool powers. Like the ability to read minds. Or get more views on Youtube.”

“How do you know I can’t read minds?” Ryan bounces his eyebrows up and down and puts his hands on his hips.

“Low level, remember?” Shane retorts. 

Ryan laughs, the kind where he throws his head back and puts his hands on his belly. Shane starts laughing, too. He can’t even help himself.

Maybe he really did fall for a demon. 

Ryan looks up at him from under his lashes, and reaches out to take Shane’s hand. Shane lets him. His heart starts hammering in his chest as adrenaline rushes through his body, and it’s completely Ryan’s fault. The air between them feels charged with a strange energy that Shane can’t explain, and he knows that their relationship has morphed into something else. He doesn’t yet know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

“You have some explaining to do. I’m so serious about that,” Shane says, fighting to keep his voice steady.

Ryan squeezes his hand and nods solemnly. “For sure. But there’s no reason to be afraid, Shane. Coming from me, that should really mean something.”

Shane snorts. “It’s not monsters I’m afraid of right now.”

“Oh, I know.” Ryan winks suggestively and lowers his voice an octave. “But I don’t bite. Unless you ask me to.”

Shane nearly swallows his tongue.


End file.
